1977 400F2 first restore project

[Bryanj]

Kojajcat.co.uk for 3 way, never found 4 way yet

[smoothoperator]

Thanks Brian that's a really useful link. Searching for connectors is a real pain. I miss Maplin's, my wife doesn't I was always dragging her in there.

[smoothoperator]

Having reconnected all of the handlebar switch wiring I connected the battery and everything is now working, including the kill switch and horn. Gave the bike a short engine run and all good. Still issues with carbs 2 and 3 with a small dribble from the bleed screws. No leaks from the overflow pipes today. Having procrastinated over buying a compression tester I bit the bullet today only to find it reduced by £5 so that was a result. It is one recommended to me by a member, it's from M&P. As I'm now waiting for the compression tester my next job will be to remove the carbs and have a look and see if I can fix the leaking bleed screws.

[smoothoperator]

Tested the compression's cold and have 100, 90, 105, 110. Carbs off and O ring set ordered. 1 bleed screw had no O ring, 1 was split and the other 2 OK but hardened. Main jet O rings also in poor condition. Float bowls were reasonably clean but the O rings very flat and there are remnants of some sort of red sealant. I'm cleaning the brass ware and lower bodies up the old fashioned way with carb cleaner and elbow grease, I'm not splitting the carbs at this point. Float heights are currently 21.4, 21.0, 23.6, 20.0. Haynes manual says 22 but I'm sure I've read 21 in this forum so I'll double check on reassembly. Main jets have the number 72 on them, Haynes says 75, not that I'm going to change them as I intend keeping all the brass ware provided it looks OK. Still have some more brass ware to take out.

[Nurse Julie]

21mm Steve for the 400/4 carb floats. (I've just edited that, I initially typed 22mm in error, now I've put me glasses on and I can see what I'm typing, I've changed it to 21mm 😁😁😁😁)

[smoothoperator]

Hey that was quick thank you!

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

Tested the compression's cold and have 100, 90, 105, 110. C

What are your thoughts on the compression tests, they are close to what mine are?

[smoothoperator]

I see them as more of a reference really. I'll be doing them again hot once I've got the carbs back on. I suppose I was pleased to see that they were reasonably close to each other. I struggled a bit with No 2 to get the gauge on so I'll have another go at that one.

[smoothoperator]

I have cleaned the carb float bowls and jets and plan to re install carbs tomorrow. The general condition wasn't too bad but the O rings were shot. The only oddity was that No 4 carb float valve has some slots in it. I've pictured it next to one of the other float valves for comparison.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/aZyLgT13WavTSvDT9

[Nurse Julie]

I've never seen one with those slots in 🤔🤔🤔🤔

[robvangulik]

Maybe it has been stuck once and been slotted to turn/wriggle it out? So long as the mating surface below hasn't been damaged it should be allright.

[smoothoperator]

Carbs back on today and she started up fine with no leaks from them. Engine ran well with all 4 exhaust headers getting hot at a similar rate. Quite a lot of smoke from the exhaust. Just a few little jobs to do before she is ready for another test ride and to check compression's when hot. Then I can get stuck in taking her to bits!

[Nurse Julie]

Great work. I find that carbs always appreciate a new set of O rings 😁😁😁

[smoothoperator]

Finally a dry day and an opportunity for a test ride. No2 header staying cold. Traced to a faulty spark plug, swapped for a new one and good to go. Just a short ride up to 50 mph and kept revs below 5000. Engine pulled fine. Nothing fell off including me. Front brake improved since I fitted new pads. Checked compression's when hot only to find them slightly lower than when tested cold, they were all around the 90 mark. Previously I refitted the carbs with the air box on and managed to join the club of those that have blackened a finger end so I now have the trophy. I've started the strip down now this marks the real start of the project. I plan to strip the top end with the engine in the frame. 2 tappet covers are stuck so I've sprayed them with plus gas to see if they will play ball tomorrow. 4 of the nuts on the header are the square cheapo coach bolt type however they came off easy enough with a 12 mm ring spanner.

[Bryanj]

If it runs fine and ticks over OK i would suspect the gauge